Hopkins Co TX - Valentine Roberson

From: June E. Tuck 1224be@neto.com>
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From the historical files of June E. Tuck, who does not validate or dispute any
historical facts in the article.

Sharing with others to learn of Hopkins County and its people.

Brief Sketch of The Life of V. Roberson

by Eli E. Hargrave

5 May 1930

Valentine Roberson was born in Houston County, Georgia, July 10, 1835. He was
the son of Sam Roberson, a Georgia farmer, and his mother was Caroline Peevey
Roberson. He was the second son in the family, his elder brother being named
Joseph.

The death of his father in 1839 left him an orphan at four years of age. He was
kept on the farm by his mother till he was fifteen when her death left him to
fight the battles of life alone. He remained in his native state till he had
reached his majority, and it was in this same year, 1856, that he cast his
first vote at Savannah, Ga., for Millard Fillmore to be President of the United
States. During the campaign young Roberson and a companion named Vandermar,
conducted the stage coach drawn by four horses, that carried Mr. Fillmore to
the theater in Savannah, where the future president made the address of the
occasion.

Young Roberson was from early childhood a fond admirer of a good horse. He not
only admired them but he enjoyed horseback riding to the limit, and he had a
great desire to wield the rein and drive a team. At this time railroad trains
were very scarce, and automobiles unheard of, so the mode of travel was
principally stage coach. It was under the direction of this said Vandermar that
Mr. Roberson learned to drive the stage team, and at this occupation he was
employed for many years. He staged in a number of states, including New York,
New Jersey, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. In his early years of
stage driving he was employed in New York and New Jersey up to and including
the year of 1859.

He enlisted in the War Between the States under Ben McCulloch in 1861, and
served throughout the conflict. As he was natural-born horse master and
experienced teamster, he was put in charge of the stage department and during
the conflict was active coach driver for the South. He drove the last stages of
the Confederacy out of Little Rock, Jefferson, Arkadelphia and Mt. Pleasant
under command of Kirby Smith. In 1868 he had charge of a stage line from Bryan
through Marlin to Waco, Texas. This line supplied a gap in the Houston and
Texas Central Railway which was as yet incomplete. These coaches required from
four to six horses, the number depending upon the length of the trip. A
distance of more than fifty miles required six horses. When this road was
completed, Mr. Roberson was given a pass, or ticket, from Waco to Galveston.
This ticket he has preserved and it is still in his possession. More than sixty
years have expired since it was issued.

He as married at Mt. Pleasant, Titus Co., on Dec. 22, 1870, to Miss Olevia
Wynn. She was a twin sister of Miss Olympia Wynn, born May 1, 1852, in Titus
county, Texas. They are both still living. The were daughters of Dr. Richard
Ivy Wynn, born in Couita sic (Coweta?) County, Ga., 1805. Their mother was
Katherine Douglas Wynn, born in Halifax Nova Scotia in 1809. Dr. Wynn was a
Methodist minister, admitted to the conference in Georgia in 1824. He came to
Texas in 1882. He died at Nelta, Texas in 1888, and his wife in 1890. They are
buried at Sulphur Bluff, Texas

Mr. Roberson, Uncle Bob, as he is familiarly called, came to Hopkins County in
March of 1882. He purchased a home from Dr. Harrington in the Pleasant Hill
community. Though he had driven a stage team fro several years, he had not lost
his desire for a farm home. In July of this same year, the Nelta post office
was established and he was made the first postmaster. The name Nelta was
suggested by one William Kyle, then a young man in the neighborhood, who had
once had a sweetheart by that name.

At this time Uncle Bob had a small mercantile business which he pursued for
about ten years, though he made a crop on his little farm each year. He and
Aunt Leave, his wife, were very courteous and obliging merchants and during
their stay in business and their five years with the post office they made
lasting friends in the community. Thad M. Stephens succeeded him as postmaster.
In 1892 they sold their mercantile business and moved to Sulphur Springs where
they remained for two years. Then they moved back to their little farm at Nelta
where they have since resided.

He and his wife have no offspring thought they have been father and mother to
many school children of former years. Their home lay adjoining the old school
playground where many of us have responded to the jingle of the little school
bell and where often some unlucky boy getting a button or two pulled off his
coat or a hole torn in his pantaloons, would run to Aunt Leave for help, as at
her hand they always found first relief.

At the age of seven, Milton Smith, a motherless boy, came to make his home with
the Robersons. He remained there as one of the family for fifteen years.

Uncle Bob is a staunch Democrat and always takes an active part in the affairs
of the party. He takes great interest in the "boys" of his county during the
election campaign. He has been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, since 1875. He is man of limited stature, being five feet and
five inches tall and weighing about 120 pounds. He quit farming about three
years ago, when a lad of 91, and now he spends his hours tending the garden and
feeding the chickens.